Six Points Of View, And Fate Is What You Make It
You wake up one day, and the whole world's gone wrong.
I remember Auntie Orange could still tell I was homesick, let it never be said she and Uncle Orange don't love me.
She introduced me to sewing and drawing, I actually made a couple of dolls to keep me company.
I stayed in Manehatten, I learned to be a lady, I improved my lot in life over being just another farm girl. I could be what I chose to be.
Of course I met the other Apples in Manehatten, including my cousin Babs who Applebloom's got along so well with (and you can bet I was mad to hear the mischief she'd gotten herself into).
I continued to improve, it was wonderful to let it out onto the canvas, who says earth ponies can't be artisans too?
Ponies called my art a diamond in the rough, it seemed fate has a sense of humor when I realized I had gotten my cutie mark.
I'm told I should combine my two crafts, sewing and art, dresses I'm told are the next logical thing for me. And as a filly with stars in my eyes, I jumped at the dream.
And you wouldn't believe where I got the chance to set up shop! There was a store up for sale in Ponyville, I insisted on buying it with my own bits to Aunt and Uncle Orange, even if it would put me in debt, I was sure I'd make it big in a town a stone's throw away from Canterlot. Yep. I was going back to my foalhood home. I was going to Ponyville.
My family welcomed me back into town with open forelegs, but I couldn't move back to the farm. Making dresses doesn't help farming. I loved them, and always will, including Applebloom who I hadn't seen in forever but she kept all the custom dolls I sent her in the mail. I had my own destiny to fulfill, I had no idea that destiny would include an uppity weather pony, The Princess' Chosen, a pegasus more into animals than the sky, my new sister in law, and a pegasus good at bringing out the joy in others.
The extra cash I made? It took me a little longer to pay off the store, but I gave it to my family here in Ponyville instead. I may not be a part of the farm anymore, but I'm still a part of the family! And whenever they needed help, I was there to give them what I could.
But today. The world was wrong.
I try to sew, but my hooves are clumsy, like they haven't stitched anything in my life. My inspiration has run dry like a desert, I look at my designs and I can tell they're bland compared to my normal stuff, and the shoddy sewing isn't helping.
Is this some kinda sick joke? Just when I had gone off on a limb to get the materials needed for this epic order for the elite of the elite of Canterlot and Manehatten. If these didn't sell, I was in deep in the red. And the weather outside was like Discord had decided the friendship of one pony wasn't worth playing nice after all, had Rarity hit her head? I wanted to ask my friends for help, but I couldn't force them to help me on something like this, I remembered the last time their 'help' did nasty things to my business, I considered asking Fluttershy, she knew sewing if nothing else, but she had a big party today, I couldn't force this on her. So I buckled down, trying to muddle through, what the hay had happened to the world?
+++
You wake up one day, and the whole world's gone bonkers.
I saw Fluttershy being bullied, I challenged those jerks for a race for her honor. Then I saw her falling. She couldn't spread her wings, she was panicking, she was going to die and it would be all my fault. I flew faster than I ever had before (or ever would again). Then there was an explosion of light, or that might have been head trauma, I saved her, I think, maybe. I might have hit my head. Even today the details are fuzzy. Fluttershy herself admits she was too terrified to remember straight and by the time the adults got there it was all over and she was safely on a little cloud far below and I was nowhere.
I woke up, on a cloud of butterflies. They saved my life. Just like I saved Fluttershy's. I wanted to pay them back. And I realized, I loved protecting and helping those weaker than me. These butterflies were so fragile, but they had worked together to help me, was I supposed to do less?
The cottage near Everfree was beyond cheap, no pony in their right mind wants to live next to that forest (heh). So yeah, I made a home for abused animals, helping them find good owners or releasing them back into the wild.
But this morning, everything has turned upside down. My animals treat me like a stranger. They don't listen to anything I say. They act like I'm an intruder. The animals themselves all seem different, all the respect from Angel I had begrudgingly earned was gone. And it was like some of them were missing and others had taken their place.
Then things got worse, the animal's food wasn't where I left it, then it got worse as I realized I couldn't remember what they all liked. Then it got even worse as they began to tear the cottage apart angry at their lack of feeding and my words were white noise to them. I felt my heart break in two. These animals had become like my family. Now it was like they had all turned into horrid strangers. I think I get what Twilight felt when Discord turned us all into monsters. Because all I can do is break down and cry.
But...he wouldn't do that again? Not to me...I'm his friend, right? I showed him what it was like to have one pony really loyal to him as a friend, then when I chose my friends AND him to be loyal to by not blasting him back to stone or helping him hurt the girls, I taught him loyalty is a two way street and he's not done one thing wrong since, to me or anypony else...but if not him, why had the world gone wrong?
+++
My word. Why had the world gone mad?
I've always been an artist, in one shape or another. I've always made the best of things. Even when things turned stormy and bleak, I could still produce a sunny sky from the darkest of days.
I remember designing the costumes for a school play, Cheerilee was excited about the work I'd do on her costume. My teacher liked them, but they weren't the spectacular masterpieces I wanted them to be!
I struggled in vain trying to find the missing piece, but it never came to me. Though my magic did have a way of mocking me, leaving me stranded away from home and having to trot back. 'Unicorn magic only happens for a reason' Celestia's hindquarters.
Then a tiny rogue raincloud came down to mock me further, I got so angry then, without even thinking, I sent it on its merry way. I was an ignorant filly, and didn't comprehend what I had done was supposed to be 'impossible' for most unicorns.
Then the night of the show came, a part of me didn't want my costumes seen if they weren't perfect, then I felt ashamed of that part from what came next. Turns out that tiny raincloud was a forerunner to a monster of a rogue storm that descended upon the school play. Bigger than the weather team could handle. Cheerilee was terrified, weather happens with purpose for us ponies, seeing this wild weather, it was like the sky itself had decided to crush us.
I felt ashamed, angry, mocked, hurt, insulted, like I was the world's plaything. And my friends were suffering somehow because of me, my egocentric filly self thought. I refused.
And in that moment of refusal, my magic was unleashed, and I sent that rain storm packing, creating a powerful (and beautiful) star shaped rainbow shockwave they say reached all the way to Canterlot and Manehatten! And it made a safe spot around the theater, and I realized at last, I could control the storm. It may not have been part of the play, but I still awed the audience with rainbow colored lightning and clouds moving 'on their own' in the air.
I also met the most crazy pony I believe I ever shall in my life!
Then came Cloudsdale, my parents decided I should have gone to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns but the thing about Unicorns and weather magic? We don't know it, it's not unheard of (Trixie is capable of some, but it's not her forte), but that meant the teachers in general didn't know how to deal with me. I spent a week or so there, made some friends, but the teachers were at a loss for how to teach me. So it was decided that Cloudsdale was the most logical place for a unicorn of my unique skill set to learn how to better herself. A cloud walking spell and gossamer wings combined with a my own budding magic and some solid ground safe zones made for an interesting learning environment. I was tripped more than once by pegasi foals who thought a unicorn learning whether magic was laughable, and I should just go home. I endured it anyway. And there were pegasi who welcomed me as a new classmate. I graduated at the top of my class. I can't say I didn't leave good friends behind when I finally left.
But I think there were still a few pegasi who loathed to see a unicorn who could do weather magic better than them.
I don't think it's random chance I'm mysterious repeatedly left being the only pony on staff of the weather team more than once. My teammates being pulled away to other tasks whether they like it or not. Myself effectively BEING the weather team more than once. Pushing me to my limit again and again, but I proved that I could make a beautiful day whether it needed to be rainy, snowy or sunny.
Then I saved the world, twice, with an earth pony who also wanted to break the mold, a unicorn who was also considered a little scary for how powerful she was, a farmer, and a pair of pegasi who I made very good friends with who never judged me. Ponies believed in me when they trusted me to handle things on my own, I wouldn't disappoint.
Then there was that time Trixie came to town and I ended up in Twilight's corner of 'try to stay out of it'. Those few days at the School for Gifted Unicorns had given me time to at least strike up a friendship with the only other mare there with any kind of weather magic ability, who happened to be Trixie. So...I knew how Fluttershy and Rainbow had felt with Gilda. Poor Applejack's beautiful dresses got turned to the most hideous things, Rainbow Dash had her animal friends confused with illusions to not obey her at all, and Apple Pie ended up with her namesake on her face. And then when that Ursa showed up...I tried to help Trixie, I didn't mean to upstage her perfectly respectable lightning cloud with a thunderbolt to drive it back from her...At least once we freed the dear from that awful Amulet we reconciled (and I learned how hurt Trixie was, feeling that whatever made her special, somepony was MORE special at it than her, I helped her through it, as a friend should).
Rainbow Dash's new 'friend' Discord tended to pop in and watch me work with a bag of popcorn for my magic being so 'delightfully different than the norm'. We weren't friends yet, but I admit having an audience was enjoyable.
Now the world had gone mad.
The clouds slipped through my magic like sand through a sieve, lightning becoming more wild than Derpy has ever made it, the clouds unleashing rain, hail, and snow almost at random.
And the only weather pattern that I was actually able to bring to mind was a simple checker pattern, generic, bland, almost mechanical if not for the random weather they were spewing, there was nothing artistic about that.
Sweet Celestia what was wrong? My mind drew a blank as I tried to think how to set the patterns right. The weather pattern the town needed looking like a jumbled mess to my mind when I tried to read it. The town was becoming a wreck. There was nothing beautiful about it.
I should have just stopped and given in. I should have admitted there was something wrong with the weather and I needed help to figure out what. But my friends knew how I get when I was doing something for somepony else, in a way I'm almost as bad as Applejack.
I actually had to shield Sweetie Belle from my own freak weather. The sky was my canvas, and it, I had almost hurt my little sister. I whispered to her not to be scared, everything was going to be well. But I wasn't sure I believed it myself.
The world had gone mad, and I didn't know how to fix it. And it was only getting worse.
+++
The world was wrong. Everything had turned so so wrong. It was horrible.
I've spent my whole life learning to take my licks and smile. Take it and keep on smiling. Make them laugh with you, not at you. And if they do . . . well, what's the point of life if you can't laugh at yourself too?
Rainbow Dash lost the pegasus race by default, but she saved me. If that isn't Loyalty, I don't know what is.
And I laughed, at how silly the race was in the end. Rainbow might not have proven she was a better flier than those bullies, but she proved she was a true friend. By the time I recovered, I had no idea where she had gone. I worried about her until they found her.
"You were saved by butterflies?" I laughed.
"Not funny Fluttershy," she said frowning. "Those butterflies are my friends now."
I explained I didn't mean any offense to her new friends.
But there was something more important. Rainbow was sad she had lost the race. She was sad she had nearly gotten me killed, that she had failed me. I forgave her on the spot. As far as I was concerned, she didn't fail me, she saved me. And I didn't stop, until I finally got her to crack a smile. And she finally admitted, yes, the race wasn't the big deal, the big deal was each other and the new friendship we had.
And she had earned her cutie mark! That was better than any race!
We spent the rest of the day goofing off, the 'traumatic incident' earning us a few days off from flight camp. I even bought Rainbow Dash a few balloons.
"Fluttershy, I should be buying YOU balloons!" Rainbow said.
"But you're the one who needs them," I said.
"No you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!"
"No you don't!"
"Yes I do!"
"Okay, here ya go." I gave her the balloons.
Rainbow blinked and looked at me, then the balloons then back at me. "What just happened?"
We both laughed. And I realized seeing other ponies happy when they had been down before like I had been. I wanted to see them happy. That was when my cutie mark appeared.
When Rainbow Dash moved to Ponyville, I followed, we were best friends after all. Then I met the legendary Rarity, the weather unicorn. She was my 'pet project at first' getting her to smile with me was a reward like no other. We still have our spa date every week.
I never imagined the three of us along with others friends of Rarity's and Twilight Sparkle would help save the world. Or Discord would turn my love of seeing ponies happy turned against me in the worst possible way. I can't believe Rainbow actually befriended that meanie. I'm happy Twilight was there to with the memory spell to remind me of WHY I liked seeing ponies smile and raise out of their shadows.
It was part of why I had taken Scootaloo under my wing, I knew what it was like to struggle learning how to fly, feeling like you'd never be good enough, that all anyone would do was laugh at you. So I taught her not to be afraid, and tell that she would fly one day.
But today, the whole world has gone wrong.
I can't think of a joke to save my life. My props don't seem to work right. The crowd's eyes looking at me feels like a heavy weight crushing me like back when I was being teased at Flight Camp. Rainbow Dash's animals have turned on her. Rarity lost control of the weather, Applejack's lost her creative voice, and Pinkie Apple Pie . . . it's like everything is going wrong for her, and Twilight is acting horribly guilty over something but won't tell me what.
It's killing me inside. I can't make my friends smile. I can't make anypony smile. The town looks at me indifferently. Even my tried and true pratfalls don't even get the smiles when I went for them as a last resort. It was like I was stealing their time as I tried to give them a show for free.
I'm afraid. I can't even make myself smile. For the first time in so long, I can't even laugh at myself, the first pony I learned to laugh about. Now there's nothing to smile about.
And it only get worse, and worse, like a black hole that sucking me inside, like I'm in a skin that isn't mine and making it impossible for me to breath.
This is why I guess Rainbow is Loyalty, and not me. I have to get back to Cloudsdale, I need to get out of here. Maybe I can find what's gone wrong, I tell myself as an excuse. I'm sorry. Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie. Applejack. Rarity. Twilight. Please forgive me.
+++
Stop it. Stop it. This isn't right, stop it please. The world isn't right anymore.
You have no idea how horrible today is. If there was a meter for wrong, this would break the needle.
Ah've always loved my families, both of them, they were both special, they're both wonderful, they both loved me back.
Ah knew a lot would change when Ah chose to move away from the rock farm. Ah felt like Ah didn't fit in, a bright colored pink pony in a farm of grays. Ah never stopped writing to my family, don't get the wrong idea. Ah never disowned or ignored them. Maybe 'move away' when you're still a blank flank isn't really 'moving away' but Ah was just so curious!
If you've got to know, it was because of this rainbow colored lightning storm Ah saw in the distance one night. Ah had to go there. Ah had to see what it was all about. Ah never said Ah heeded danger that well.
Turns out, it was Ponyville!
A unicorn filly who could do weather magic? Maybe she had a pegasus for a grandma like me! Ah so had to make friends with her! Ah think Ah became her first fan.
What Ah never expected to do was fall in love. Oops, sorry, getting a little ahead there.
So you see there was this nice colt and, oh still too far ahead.
Did Ah go back to the rock farm? At first. Hey! Ah said Ah moved away from the farm and Ah did, Ah didn't say how long the first time, Ah didn't say Ah found a new place to live! And when Ah really did move to Ponyville Ah do write them.
How did Ah make it from the rock farm to Ponyville and back to the rock farm before my family even noticed Ah was gone? What kind of silly question is that, that has nothing to do with the important parts of the story!
After that Ah did get permission to sell in Ponyville some rock candy me and my sisters made so Ah could visit more often though.
That was an exciting night for me! But it wouldn't be the last friend I'd make in Ponyville. Ponyville was a really friendly place in general, it was easy to meet friends. It was kind of overwhelming compared to the rock farm. Ah had my three sisters, and we were close, but this was an entire town of ponies! But they were all so nice. Ah was afraid they wouldn't understand where Ah came from, but Ah found out they really respected farmers because that's who founded the town!
Ah guess that just made me feel a bit connected to the place. Ah knew they were apple farmers, but farmers are farmers! And at least Ah knew no pony would judge me for it.
So...one day, Ah decided to go check out Sweet Apple Acres and see my fellow farmers. Ah asked Rarity about them, but she really didn't know them very well. But she said she'd heard they were struggling a bit due to their parents being away for a really long time. Being from a farming family myself, Ah knew how hard the work could be. Ah decided to maybe offer them a little help too while Ah was there. After all, what better way to make friends than lend a helping hoof?
Ah got the shock of my life when my parents were there discussing something with an old green pony. Ah kinda stayed out of sight for the most part. That was when Ah happened to meet this little red colt and . . .
Well . . .
He was supposed to be baking pies for my parents, but there was only so much he could do by himself and he had a baby sister to watch (dang she was cute, she still is), well, Ah knew it was crazy, but Ah HAD come here to help, so Ah chose to help make the apple pies. After all, Ah at least knew sweets some.
And you can guess what happened next, that's right, that's how Ah got three apples on my rear (technically six). Ah also helped him look after Applebloom in the process too. Personally, Ah think looking after her felt more satisfying than baking the pies, but that's splitting hairs.
There was no way Ah was going to hide this from my parents, and Ah didn't try that hard. Ah did make up a story about wanting to sell rock candies to the Apples as some extra hard work for the farm.
Big Mac was nice enough to cover for me. Ah thought that was really sweet of him, so Ah married him. Oh not right away! But you knew that part was coming.
Ah met Applejack for the first time on our wedding day (okay, a little before, she made this great wedding dress), she didn't see me as a replacement to her, she saw me as a new sister (she said the Apples were all about family, so getting a little bigger wouldn't hurt), and Ah was happy to have her. And the Apples and Pies were happy to be a united family now.
Big Mac and Ah split the workload now, and Applebloom was learning to help too, she's a wiz with anything that's mechanical or involving fixing something (even if she doesn't seem to notice). Am Ah happy? If I'm not, then Ah don't know what happy is.
Now the whole world wasn't right anymore, or at least Ponyville wasn't right anymore. Ah always trusted Rarity's weather to give the farm what it needed, but now she was hitting it with a chaotic train wreck of sleet, rain, and dry heat! Was she sick? AJ won't leave her workshop. Rainbow Dash's animals have gone crazy, and don't listen to a thing she says and are going through the farm with us having to keep them out. Twilight looks almost as bad as when Discord made us turn on her.
Then . . . then there was me. The trees seem more interested in not giving up their fruit, or hitting me over the head with it. Everything I've tried to fix only get more broken. The entire orchard has become like a maze Ah can't navigate. And, THE FREAKIN' WATER SPOUT!
Applebloom, she knows we're family but . . . she's acting like I'm just hired help. Granny Smith won't look at me. And Big Mac . . . Mac . . . he's perfectly fine, he's helping out the best he can . . . but . . . the look in his eyes, he looks at me, and, that spark whenever he lays eyes on me, it's . . . it's just not there!
And it's like every plant Ah touch dies or something! Poor Henderson. He was a good tree. Did Ah run into some poison joke or something? No blue spots.
Then what?
What's happened to the world?
Why did everything go wrong?
But . . . this is my family . . . please . . . Ah have to try. Just as Ah would for my friends. And Ah know they'd try for me.
+++
. . . True true friends . . .
+++
After The Restoration Of True Friends And The Coronation Of Princess Twilight
"So you don't intend to tell her the truth?" Princess Luna asked as the new Princess Twilight celebration her ascension with her true true friends.
"She already knows the truth sister, she restored her friends to their true fates and she ascended to Alicornhood when she reached the level of understanding needed to become magic itself."
"But that's not the whole truth."
"It's not a truth she needs to know, she has enough to bear."
"Ye shouldn't hide things from her, sister, sooner or later she'll think ye sent that book to her to intentionally swap the fates of her friends so she'd reach her understanding and join us in eternity."
"Luna! You know I did no such thing! I believed Twilight had reached the level needed to take the final step, but I never imagined the Elements would react that way! Just as I hadn't known King Sombra had escaped his prison before sending the Bearers north without the Elements. I gauge what dangers Twilight and her friends can face in their growth, but I don't use them."
"I didn't say ye did. But she could jump to that conclusion."
"She won't, she might have learned to not blindly follow my instructions, but she trusts me."
"I'm still surprised she hasn't asked the greater question. She never once noticed that even when her friends regained their fates that the cutie mark of the other who had their fate remained anyway, when they were supposed to be switched, instead, each one was restored independently. The same cutie mark in two places at once."
"It's no fault on her part. Her friends were simply the more important matter, as they should be for the personification of Magic itself, and she was dealing with an incomplete spell mixed with the Elements of Harmony, she likely didn't bother to question such inconsistencies."
"So she'll never know, that when she cast the incomplete spell in our world, another Twilight Sparkle cast the same spell in another world. She'll never know she didn't 'scramble' the cutie marks of her friends, so much as switch them with the cutie marks of her friends inhabiting another version of our Equestria as her twin did the same."
"Whether she realizes it or not isn't the point, if she does, she does, if she doesn't, she doesn't."
"And she didn't realize that as she raced to use the Elements and the actions of her friends to instill their original fates, that another Twilight Sparkle was doing the same thing, to get back the fates of her friends. We say again, they were not scrambled, they were switched. And they were not 'restored' but exchanged between worlds. The 'one' and 'another' referred to another version of themselves, not the other members of the Elements."
"Maybe I will explain it to her when she's ready to learn about the existence of other worlds Lulu. Many ponies are convinced that if other worlds exist, that it diminishes our own. That since another them in a different world made a different choice, that it diminishes theirs. It's ironic."
"What is Celly?"
"That this entire ordeal has proven just the opposite. The Applejack who stayed in Manehatten and learned to be a fashionista is NOT the same Applejack that chose to return to Sweet Apple Acres. The Rarity who saved her school play from a storm is NOT the same one who found a geode full of treasures. The Pinkie Pie who was adopted by the Cakes is not the same who married into the Apples. The Fluttershy who wanted to be kind by being a healer of animals is not the same who chose to be kind by bringing joy to others. And the Rainbow Dash who made the Sonic Rainboom that bonded their destiny . . . in one she pulled up in time, in another she didn't, and so her fate changed. But it was THEIR FATE and THEIRS alone."
"And the the versions of us where ye fell into darkness while we stayed strong, are not the same ponies as us. Nor are our masculine selves in that other world. Ponies, and their cutie marks, are our choices, and different choices make different ponies and cutie marks. Each world is the sum of their inhabitants' choices. She had no idea the cutie marks were just an outward symbol, she had no idea that she and her twin across the void had in fact exchanged the souls of their friends."
"She thinks she came close to ruining their lives and those of everypony in Ponyville but pulled through when she realized the key was not another spell but the connections her friends still had. Which she very well did as her friends' souls failed to adapt to being in the wrong reality from a spell that was an incomplete enchantment. Let her enjoy her victory, she's already surpassed me, sister, she didn't need to wait a thousand years to undo her worst act of thoughtlessness."
"Feeling less sister?"
"Of course not, I couldn't be happier, there is no point in being a teacher if your student can't surpass you."
Across The Void
Twilight Sparkle, excuse me, Princess Twilight Sparkle celebrated with her friends back in Ponyville at Sugarcube Corner, sure there was the giant celebration at Canterlot, and that was fun. But Fluttershy reminded them how it was important to celebrate with your close friends in a familiar space too. And Ponyville was more familiar to most of them than Canterlot, and Princess Twilight had come to see Ponyville as her second home. Plus, she'd only started truly making friends upon coming to the town, so a friendly party here simply made sense.
Pinkie Pie was more than happy to provide the catering for this private party of Equestria's new princess. Rarity provided them the perfect day over the little shop. And they were all still wearing the dresses Applejack made made for all of them.
Spike was just relieved the whole big mess was over and his friends were themselves again. He knew Twilight would do it, he just didn't know she'd turn into an Alicorn while she was at it! Maybe she'd be around for his awkward teenage years after all!
Rarity still had needles marks over her from accidentally poking herself with her magic while trying to make dresses at Applejack shop. AJ assured the unicorn that her designs weren't bad, she just needed to learn to sew if she was ever interested. Rarity said she'd take her up on it after her million tiny cuts had healed up.
Rainbow Dash had brought each of the mane six's pets to celebrate all of their masters being back to normal, like Rarity she bore the scars from the mismatched cutie marks, Derpy had told her some tips on how to deal with getting zapped by unruly stormclouds. Her animals were happy to have their true blue and rainbow maned caretaker back, even if they hadn't known it consciously, in their hearts they knew.
She was a bit upset Discord hadn't been at the coronation, but they all knew he still had a lot of making up to do before Equestria would be comfortable around him. He had still sent Twilight a congratulations card...made of blue cheese. Somehow.
Applejack, after two trips to the spa for baths, was certain she finally gotten all the dirt out of her hooves and mane from her ill fated cutie mark driven attempt to get back into the family business. She wasn't joking about Rarity's designs, she just needed to have them sewn by a pony who knew how. Okay, maybe they were a little more flare than substance, but Rarity was used to working with the weather after all. Using a different medium, AJ had learned, always got the better of you.
AJ, admitted she didn't mind being with her family, but farm work was decidedly not for her! She had run the farm nearly into the ground! She knew Applebloom forgave her, she was happy to have bonded more with her sister after the sisterhood social. She didn't want to lose her again.
Fluttershy was happy her friends had come by when they did, Rainbow Dash's animals had tied her up and had stuck an apple in her mouth and put her on a silver platter, there wasn't much guessing what they had planned to do next.
And Pinkie Pie . . . she never imagined she'd be so happy to get back to farm work! Baking pies and making apple treats and serving as her husband's second set of hooves was decidedly more her speed. She had had rotten fruit thrown at her for telling the worst jokes in Equestrian history (all of them apple based jokes), and Pinkie was worried she might had turned Ponyville off from Apples for a while. But she knew if anything Ponyvillians were very forgiving.
"Girls, I just want to say . . . I'm sorry, if I hadn't thoughtlessly cast that spell, none of this would have happened." Princess Twilight bowed her head.
"You're right," Fluttershy said putting a wing over the new Princess. "You wouldn't be a princess and an Alicorn now."
"And I wouldn't have seen that Rarity might make it look easy, but being a pegasus doesn't mean it's gonna be easy for me!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Dash's animals may be cute, but they're a handful!" Fluttershy said.
"And making art with the sky and silk are decided not the same thing."
"And comedy isn't easy to make up on the spot." The Apple Pie declared.
"And I might want to go back to the farm sometimes, but it ISN'T me. I'd say we all learned to appreciate a bit more about the burdens we all bear."
"But you were all so miserable! And it was my fault."
"Twilight," Applejack said, "This is a celebration. You shouldn't be putting yourself down."
"But it's not worth celebrating!"
"Yes it is," the orange fashion mare said, "Everything turned out okay, you did the impossible, we turned out okay, you messed up, yeah, you've done that how many times? WE'VE all done that how many times? How many of our hard headed stunts got us, AND Ponyville in trouble? Dash brought that Parasprite to town thinking it was just a harmless little thing, Fluttershy did that whole cloning thing and was too nice to send them back (thank Celestia my family cross country needs lots of farm hooves), Rarity could've stopped Trixie just by reminding her they were friends, Pinkie got so caught up trying to make her and Big Mac's anniversary special she almost forgot it was theirs, and yours truly got so focused trying to make all your dresses right and being too stubborn to admit I'd gone overboard I nearly lost my commissions elsewhere. You had no way of knowing the Elements would react that way to you casting the spell near'em right? So please we forgive you! Isn't that right girls?"
The ponies all nodded.
"I . . . I don't deserve friends like you," Princess Twilight whispered, looking ready to cry in joy.
"Me and Discord are living proof nocreature deserves friends, Twilight," Rainbow reminded.
Futtershy wiped away a tear from Twiilight's face. "Now now, celebration remember?"
"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!" Princess Twilight said, realized WHAT she just said, and laughed. "Thanks Fluttershy!"
"My pleasure!" The yellow pegasus bowed.
"Don't start with bowing now!" Twilight laughed.
"A performer is expected to now, nothing special." Fluttershy smiled.
"Don't go saying that! Everypony here is special in their way! Ah'd say we've proven that!" Pinkie Apple Pie said. "You can't go fitting square blocks in round holes."
"Unless they're smaller." Fluttershy smirked.
"Oh you!"
"Well Twilight, I'd say you've gotten a wonderful happy ending," Rarity said, using her magic to produce a tiny rainbow between her hooves and placing it like a second crown on the Alicorn's head.
At The Same Time In Both Worlds
"Rarity, this isn't a 'happy ending', remember what Princess Celestia said? This is a new beginning. Things aren't ending at all! Life goes on. I'm still going to live in Ponyville, and I'm still going to be friends with all of you! Celestia said something about me having plenty of time to get used to being a princess."
"And we're gonna be there for you every step of the way!" Rainbow Dash hugged her and folded her wings around her.
"You can say that again!" Pinkie Pie hugged her too.
"That's the honest truth!" AJ promised.
"And don't you forget it darling!" Rarity said.
"Yay!" Fluttershy cheered.
The others joined in the group hugged, finally added by Spike, hopping on Rarity's back in the process.
"Girls," Princess Twilight Sparkle said, "Don't ever change, and thank you. You're all my very best friends!"
-New Beginnings
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This was certainly different.
I'm a bit tired, but I think I got the general gist of the idea behind it.
I like it, really. Nice work.
~Skeeter The Lurker
4203162
Thanks! I FINALLY got to watching the finale of season 3. And this was my response.
4203168
Wait.
You mean to tell me you JUST now saw it?
When we're neck deep in S4?
Wow...
~Skeeter The Lurker
4203170
Was holding off until I finished the first draft of my version of Canterlot wedding (I have a bad habit of making stuff longer than I should).
4203214
Ah, ok.
I get ya.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Really, Really enjoyed this
You have an awesome style of writing and it was really interesting to read
4203266
Happy to hear you enjoyed this!
In retrospect I should have maybe divided this up into multiple chapters. So each POV could be digested individually.
I've been told multiple times I do best when writing things POV.
Y'know, one of the besst things that I had always found with Pony POV is that...it made Season 2, better. Don't get me wrong, season 2 was one of the est of the whole dang show, but Pony POV added a certain-something. Like a story behind the story that made the show even better or the characters even more real than they were before. The way that the stories gave us a chance to see how deep the scars of Discord wore on our heroes made the season something else to see. Heck, it does this with "MAre-Do-Well" and so much more.
And you know what? Somehow, I don't know, maybe because you are such a fantastic writer or something like that, you did the same thing here. You expanded on the episode and turned it into something even better than what we are given. This is saying as a guy who liked and had a blast with the ending (not as good as the wedding and needed to be a 2-parter, but that was denied for some odd reason). I loved how this gave us an idea of just what the other world was like, of how the other world's elements came together, and who was who (for a second, I was confused as to how was Flutters still kindness when she was in Pinkie's spot, but then I understood)
Luna's speech is something that I always bring to me when I think of the alt verses (speaking of wich, did you reference the Lunaverse when you mentioned Celestia going evil instead of Luna?) That they are not excatly the same souls that are in each world, but there is something much deeper that lives in them all that can bring them together, even if they don't know it.
Yeah, Twilight it does, it most certantally does.
Again, this is one of those examples I love to hand out when I tell people "Fanfics are more than just shipping and Mary-sues. There are terriffic ones out there as well".
Thank you again for adding something great to a great show.
4203325
"Y'know, one of the besst things that I had always found with Pony POV is that...it made Season 2, better. Don't get me wrong, season 2 was one of the est of the whole dang show, but Pony POV added a certain-something. Like a story behind the story that made the show even better or the characters even more real than they were before. The way that the stories gave us a chance to see how deep the scars of Discord wore on our heroes made the season something else to see. Heck, it does this with "MAre-Do-Well" and so much more."
You're welcome.
"And you know what? Somehow, I don't know, maybe because you are such a fantastic writer or something like that, you did the same thing here. You expanded on the episode and turned it into something even better than what we are given. This is saying as a guy who liked and had a blast with the ending (not as good as the wedding and needed to be a 2-parter, but that was denied for some odd reason). I loved how this gave us an idea of just what the other world was like, of how the other world's elements came together, and who was who"
Thanks! That was easily the best part!
It's not quite the FiM verse we've come to know and love, but it has it's good parts and bad parts just like any other world, and the good generally outweighs the bad.
The problem with the spell was that it was INCOMPLETE. The ponies got the cutie marks on the surface, but none of the talents, skills, or muscle memory that were supposed to be part of those cutie marks. If it had been cast when complete, IMHO, it would have allowed them to PROPERLY live a day in each other's horseshoes.
"(for a second, I was confused as to how was Flutters still kindness when she was in Pinkie's spot, but then I understood)"
EXACTLY! I read the various interpretations of the MMC-ponies and was inspired from multiple sources. One thing you have to love about the MLP fandom is the fannon is so open sources, everyone's fanon is shared by everyone.
"(speaking of wich, did you reference the Lunaverse when you mentioned Celestia going evil instead of Luna?)"
Ironic IMHO that are MANY scenario that use that device.
"Luna's speech is something that I always bring to me when I think of the alt verses
That they are not excatly the same souls that are in each world, but there is something much deeper that lives in them all that can bring them together, even if they don't know it."
Cool! Deep! :-D
"Life goes on. I'm still going to live in Ponyville, and I'm still going to be friends with all of you!
Yeah, Twilight it does, it most certantally does."
:-)
"Again, this is one of those examples I love to hand out when I tell people "Fanfics are more than just shipping and Mary-sues. There are terriffic ones out there as well".
I'm happy then that Pinkie Pie and Big Mac in this feels like PART OF THE STORY, and serves the story, rather than the other way around (that other way around is not always a good thing). I wrote it because I've seen it used elsewhere for the MMC verse and I felt it made the most sense.
And yeah, that most certainly ARE more than just shipping and Mary Sues.
"Thank you again for adding something great to a great show."
Welcome.
This is really brilliant -- you've shown how the destiny-shifted characters perceived their previous life histories (which was a whole internally-consistent alternate history) and how they perceived the shift in which they no longer had the appropriate skills.
I wonder if the restored Pinkie Pie still has feelings for Big Mac? I don't know how much she remembers of her alternate self's marriage to Big Mac, but even hazy memories of marriage, even of the affection involved in any decent marriage, is not something one can easily ignore.
Watch the fourth season!!!
"Lesson Zero" becomes a much darker story if one even makes the root assumption Alex did, namely that the psychological scars of the Discording did not immediately fade. One can see the episode as representing Twilight discharging a lot of the emotional tensions she'd accumulated -- she was never directly Discorded, but she had to be the Only Sane Mare in a world gone mad, suffer rejection from her friends, and she so very nearly fell ...
4203485
She DID fall, Celestia's letter however pulled her back.
4203477
"This is really brilliant --"
Thanks!
"you've shown how the destiny-shifted characters perceived their previous life histories"
There were a lot of sources I drew from for this. Inspiration. There were tons of good ideas people threw about but had never translated into fanfiction form for the most part.
"(which was a whole internally-consistent alternate history)"
Which hinted at how this was more than just a delusional state brought on by having their cutie marks switched about.
"and how they perceived the shift in which they no longer had the appropriate skills."
Indeed. When things go wrong, they're not dense enough to not notice things going wrong, but we don't normally think to ourselves what WE are what's wrong.
They went through that entire ordeal having the wrong soul in their body! But souls don't translate to muscle memory, experience, etc. And while reality distorted around them, it DIDN'T give Fluttershy's animals the souls of Rainbow Dash's animals, so they felt no emotional endearment or trust towards her for example.
"I wonder if the restored Pinkie Pie still has feelings for Big Mac? I don't know how much she remembers of her alternate self's marriage to Big Mac, but even hazy memories of marriage, even of the affection involved in any decent marriage, is not something one can easily ignore."
They likely remember what they thought to recall at the time. And if Pinkie Pie DOES remember, this isn't quite the same Big Mac THAT Pinkie Pie married, she'd have to get to know him all over again.
"Watch the fourth season!!!"
Any particular reason? I got hit with lots of spoilers. Including the Elements being swept under the rug by the writers. Which is a shame. Because I felt they were never used ENOUGH and the writers just wanted them out of the way.
4203697
THANKS!
That was really confusing at times, but really good!
4203786
What spots need to be less confusing? And how are they confusing?
4203630
"Apple Pie." And, to a lesser extent, "Filli Vanilli."
For another possibility, "Pinkie Pride."
They've been doing interesting things with the character -- some claim they're Flanderizing her, but I actually believe they are doing what they are doing quite deliberately, and increasing her depth in the process. From the very first two-parter, Pinkie Pie has always known more than she cared to reveal, or reveal in a form which other ponies would believe.
Oh gods that crap was supposed to be the SERIES finale? Thankfully it wasn't; that would've left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouth
4204449
It's what I HEARD, I never read an official source on the subject.
Alternate realities make me happy. Displaced characters from worlds in alternate worlds make me even happier.
4203877
It was mostly the different points of view. I had to remind myself that I was reading about a different Equestria. It didn't make the story bad, or even hard to read. It was just a few things that I needed to remember as I read.
4204785
Now imagine the MMC with the souls of the mane six trying to fulfill 'their' destinies and failing.
4204492 Well, considering that season 4 was confirmed at the dawn of S3, and that the only real reason why Princess Twilight was so abruptly dropped on us is because Hasbro wanted DA MONEIZ, I think it's safe to assume that that's a "no"
Great to see this story here. And I still think that the bits with Pinkie and Big Mac, and Rarity's handling the weather, are my favorites.
4205092 Aaaaand I feel a sudden compulsion to just kind of fall over.
Not really my headcanon, but an interesting take.
Very well done. This really clears up a lot of the issues I have with the original, and being able to bridge the gap between universes and switch cutie marks is certainly a very new sort of magic for Twilight to master, even if it did take two of them. Nice job.
Great take on the MMC episode. I liked the way you changed up the ponies' origins. For some reason I really like the Pinkie/Mac pairing you have here. I also am a sucker for sophisticated Apple Jack. Though I have only seen a couple of stories with her like that.
Like, this story isn't bad as a concept. Alternate universe cutie marks. Yeah, I like that.
But, Yeshua bin Yosef, what is wrong with your commas. They are everywhere. You got commas where a period should be all over. If you gotta make it a singular sentence, you got em dashes for that. Semi-colons. Learn to comma.
"But today. The world was wrong."
The one place you should have had a comma and you blew it. YOU BLEW IT.
My new head canon. Also I love how the mane 6 are out of character while still being in character.
4205501
Yeah, I'm a suck for 'lady applejack' too. I felt Pinkie Pie's marraige to Big Mac was good fanon for her in this case.
This is what I've been looking for ever since I saw "Magical Mystery Cure."
But I can't quite figure out what elements everypony has? Do they all have the same ones in this alternate universe? Because it seems like Fluttershy would be Laughter, but you seem to imply that she's still kindness. And I suppose I see how that works, but I'm not really sure how Pinkie is still Laugher then.
Also this bit from the start of Rarity's part confuses me:
This is right in the middle of Rarity explaining how she got her cutie mark, but Discord would still have been in stone then, so that doesn't make sense. Unless this is supposed to be taking place in the present or more recent past, but in that case I think it's out of place.
Very well done story, except for punctuation.
Coummas, periods, and em dashes could be used much better correctly. It didn't bother me much, though.
Loved the concept and execution.
4205319
Thanks for respecting my headcannon.
Pinkie's piece of this story reminds me of a Pinkie/Big Mac story called "Unforeseen Consequences" that uses the alternate timeline memories (and the fact that Pinkie is pregnant with Big Mac kid) to bring the two together and also shows how in the alt timeline they got together just a shame it hasn't been updated for 1 year
4206472
That's what it's called? That was one of my inspiration for this fic!
4203162
Not sure if you ever read it, but Memories We Never Had is basically the same story (or at least, a very similar one). I preferred that rendition to this one, as Memories We Never Had was more poignant in part due to being more succinct and in part due to being more integrated and having more impact on the characters.
Not that this was a bad story by any means - I enjoy the whole alternate universe thing, and exploring the idea of what ifs that Magical Mystery Cure brought up - but I think that story hit me in the feels where this one's explanations felt a bit less integrated into things, the flow not quite as good, and the whole "soul swapping" thing seemed overlong and, because it was denied to Twilight, a lot less meaningful.
Hmm. I noticed that you mentioned "Cross and Arrow" and the Lunaverse towards the end.
4206822
I did.
It was indeed good.
~Skeeter The Lurker
This is an interesting take to be sure. But if the soul-switched ponies actually had been doing those jobs all their life in their own world, then why were they suddenly terrible at them after they were exchanged?
4207062 Because they only have the memories of doing the jobs not the skills to actually do them which are very different things. Its like the difference between a book about doing something and one that tells you how to do it.
This was good up until Luna The Exposition Machine started talking. Sweet Jesus I've never read such telly exposition in my entire life.
But I think overall it deserves an upvote.
4206544
It's got one of my many stars I just selected PP and Big Mac in the tag bar and it popped up
4207468
But they have the memories both of doing those things and of learning how to do those things. This entire story is them explaining where and when they learned those skills in the other world, so they must still remember how to do them if they remember learning them.
I could see it being a problem where for example Applejack would have trouble bucking trees in the body of her dress making counterpart as that body would be far less used to manual labor and would be lacking in muscle memory, but things like alternate Fluttershy not being able to make jokes in her caretaker body wouldn't work because making jokes is entirely down to your mental affinity for making them.
4207621
They switched souls, not brains. The memories they had were an ill fit.
just one thing I noticed at the end of the story.
"Me and Discord are living proof nocreature deserves friends, Twilight," Rainbow reminded.
aren't that the same as saying "No one deserves friends" shouldn't it be everycreature deserves friends?
Very interesting and worked out story. Insightful.
What fascinates me is that, according to several sources, the writers fully intended the Swapped 5 to have fully developed memories of lives justifying their new positions (i.e. Pinkie remembers a life leading up to her living on the farm). Since you say you didn't watch the episode until recently, I'll assume you didn't know about this, and instead developed the idea on your own. That's really interesting. Kudos!
I agree with 4207571 that the scene with the princesses was very exposition-heavy - almost a bit rude, like someone explaining a joke they just told because they assume you didn't get it. I admit that some facts had to be dropped for everything to make sense, but it went a bit too far. The scene with the Alt-6 in the very end established that they were real and not just delusions just fine on their own.
Dash befriending Discord through a display of Loyalty? Rarity building a tentative friendship with Trixie over their skill with weather, and studying in Cloudsdale? The smoothly meshing backstories for the Alt-6? Excellent work.
4207621 Remembering learning how to do something is not the same thing as having learnt how to do it. Declarative memory of experiences and information is different from procedural memory which consists of the actual skills learnt. When their souls were swapped their declarative memories went with them so they remembered the facts about their lives in the other universe but their procedural memories didn't so they don't have the skills to go with them.
There are real world cases of people due to neurological problems remembering learning skills but not actually having them any more or learning a skill and being able to use it but not being able to remember learning it.
4207904
I suppose that makes more sense. Though I question the validity of somebody's soul being the truest essence of their self if they were to leave a significant portion of their memories behind with their body. Surely things learned procedurally are just as significant in defining your personality as the ones you learn consciously.